Walking through my deparment corridors I saw a poster talking about this iranian woman, who was held as a prisoner in Iran and was going to give a lecture about Iran, journalism and Human Rights. I got surprised, such an opportunity to learn from a very rare source (my journalistic mind strikes again) and only a poster was warning us about it?! Nobody in my class was talking about it and I guess none of them was going to see her lecture. As for me, since I saw the poster I couldn't stop thinking of which things this woman was going to tell the lecture's spectators, and how I just wouldn't forgive myself if I missed it. Also I felt obligated to spread this as much as I could, so I told evebody I knew about this lecture and how this was a once-in-a-life-time opportunity. The day of our meeting came and I was excited, just didn't know what to expect! Then, Roxana Saberi walked in the room and started telling me and the other people in the room this story: www.roxanasaberi.com
I know its mean of me not to tell you what she said in that lecture, but the thing is that I can't even try to put as much emotion in the story or passion in her mission as she. What's left to me is to spread her story as much as I can, and hope that more people become aware of her vision about Iran and about the importance of granting EVERYBODY human rights.
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" Martin Luther King, Jr., 1963
segunda-feira, 29 de novembro de 2010
segunda-feira, 15 de novembro de 2010
University Sports
How many of us imagined ourselves as athletes? How many of these dreams came true? About 20 years ago the answer to these questions would be negative, after all, to be able to support yourself practicing sports is a tough task. (Specially if you live in Brazil, where sports policies are jokes). However, since about 1990, this story started to change: university sports became a reality in our nation.
Differently from the US, in Brazil the university-sports leagues are segregated and divided into different types of competitions. For instance, there are the internal leagues of the universities, such as "Jogos Da Liga", a league in which all of USP-São Paulo departments compete in many different sports modalities; there are inter-university competition, such as JUCA; and there are other amateur leagues not exclusive for college teams, but in which they can take part.
I am one of these people. I've never been great at sports so the option of going pro was never really an option, but I've always given it a chance. When I was young my father encouraged me a lot but, as I sucked at it and I was embarassed of playing it among the other kids, I stopped going to my football classes. The only thing left to me was P.E. where I could play with my friends (who sucked too). I also tried out tennis but I quit at the age of 8. When I was about 13 my father and I started playing soccer every saturday, a tradition that remains until today, and this is how I overcame my "football shyness" and improved my football. I rediscovered the joy that sports provide and at the age of 16 I started playing tennis again and kept on practicing it until I was 18, when I quit once more because I had to focus on my studies.
Although I've trained a lot in my life, I had never felt the drill that a championship is, or the pressure coming from the crowd, and this is where the University Sports came in. You don't have to be the best to play, and you will surelly be accepted in the trainings, if you do well and make an effort you might make it to the team, and there glory will await you. It is true that in some Colleges it is not that easy to get in the team, but in smaller ones like ECA anyone who fells like doing it can participate in this way of life and enjoy the sports bennefits.
Differently from the US, in Brazil the university-sports leagues are segregated and divided into different types of competitions. For instance, there are the internal leagues of the universities, such as "Jogos Da Liga", a league in which all of USP-São Paulo departments compete in many different sports modalities; there are inter-university competition, such as JUCA; and there are other amateur leagues not exclusive for college teams, but in which they can take part.
I am one of these people. I've never been great at sports so the option of going pro was never really an option, but I've always given it a chance. When I was young my father encouraged me a lot but, as I sucked at it and I was embarassed of playing it among the other kids, I stopped going to my football classes. The only thing left to me was P.E. where I could play with my friends (who sucked too). I also tried out tennis but I quit at the age of 8. When I was about 13 my father and I started playing soccer every saturday, a tradition that remains until today, and this is how I overcame my "football shyness" and improved my football. I rediscovered the joy that sports provide and at the age of 16 I started playing tennis again and kept on practicing it until I was 18, when I quit once more because I had to focus on my studies.
Although I've trained a lot in my life, I had never felt the drill that a championship is, or the pressure coming from the crowd, and this is where the University Sports came in. You don't have to be the best to play, and you will surelly be accepted in the trainings, if you do well and make an effort you might make it to the team, and there glory will await you. It is true that in some Colleges it is not that easy to get in the team, but in smaller ones like ECA anyone who fells like doing it can participate in this way of life and enjoy the sports bennefits.
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